Letter 14 from Summer 🥰 | Ways to Boost Your Energy + How Exactly Should You Write a Diary?
1. What exactly should be written in a diary? How to start, and how to keep it going?
1️⃣Life Diary📓
The first time I wrote a diary was probably about three years ago. Actually, at the beginning, I didn't think too much about it. It was just small things in life, and I felt there was no harm in jotting them down.
I will write down what I did today, even if it's just going grocery shopping, taking a walk, or making myself a cup of tea. These trivial things seem to take on a certain different weight on paper.
At the beginning, the life diary was just such a container, gradually gathering my life bit by bit.📒
2️⃣Tag Diary📓
Later, I gradually realized that not everything can be recorded so lightly. Emotions cannot always be casually set aside in a corner; they are like the wind outside the window, blowing in from time to time to remind you of their existence.
So, I started to give my emotions a label or describe my feelings, for example: "I feel very uncomfortable right now, like there's a pill stuck in my throat, I can't swallow, and tears are welling up in my eyes." I call it "Observer's Diary or Label Diary".
I am no longer just a recorder, but an observer of my own life. Those sudden troubles, anxieties, and even inexplicable emotions, I try to view them from the perspective of a bystander. Standing at a distance, I seem to be able to see myself more clearly, detaching my emotions as if I were watching someone else. 💭
This process made me realize that emotions are not as bad as I imagined. They come and go, and I can always find something unexpected behind them.
For example, anxiety, sometimes behind anxiety is the expectation for the future; for example, pain, there is a faint sense of achievement in pain, because you are already changing while enduring it.
This meticulous observation gradually taught me to find peace amidst the waves and to be grateful for my own life. When others ask me how I've been lately, my mind is no longer a blank.
3️⃣Action Diary📓
Later, my diary was promoted to the third level. It was no longer about observation and classification, but about action.
I started writing down plans for the future, no longer staying in the present, but looking further ahead. Every two weeks is a cycle, called "cycle”, this cycle is like an invisible line, connecting my daily life.
At the end of each cycle, I review what I have accomplished and what I have failed, and then replan for the next two weeks. Sometimes I fail a lot, sometimes I succeed just a little, but it doesn't matter because I find that this regular reflection and planning gives me a solid sense of progress in life.📅
This kind of "action diary" is very simple in form, but extremely effective. Unlike traditional goal setting, it is not so strict. It allows me to adjust flexibly, and the goals of each cycle can change, but the overall direction remains the same.
I no longer demand that every day must be a success, nor do I worry that occasional mistakes will ruin everything. On the contrary, I gradually learned to be lenient with myself, treating unfinished tasks as opportunities for growth and carrying them into the next cycle. This sense of rhythm has given me the motivation to persist in my micro-habit tracking. 🌟 This is my action diary template, students who need it can click to download.
So far, I have written three or four such diaries. These small records have allowed me to complete many challenges I had never thought of before. For example, WeChat Reading's 365-day challenge, I actually did it; and after each class, I carefully finished writing the students' reports.
I never expected that the seemingly insignificant habit of keeping a diary could generate such a significant impact on my life. It helps me accumulate bit by bit, allowing me to accomplish things that seemed out of reach, such as 1,000 student training reports! 🏋️
From the beginning of writing a diary until now, three years have passed. Through these three layers of diaries—life diary, observer diary, and action diary, like three mirrors, they have allowed me to see myself clearly from different angles, plan myself, and also helped me find direction in chaos, greatly enhancing my cognitive abilities. So I believe that for ordinary people, the lowest cost way to change their fate is to start writing a diary. 🖋️
2. Methods to Enhance Your Own Energy
Student A's "Complete Lying Flat Method"
Let go of all worries and stress, and focus on your desires and bodily needs. She said: "If you feel tired, eat what you want, then wrap yourself in a blanket and sleep as long as you want."
Student B: Stay away from "toxic" people
The key is to avoid those who are full of negative energy. Those who often speak with negative tones, criticize or belittle others, even if they are close, you need to keep a distance. If you have to interact with these people, it's best to maintain a certain emotional distance, and you can try responding to their messages after a few hours.
Student C: The Power of Sunbathing
People are like plants; they need sunlight to thrive and grow vigorously~. In the morning, after waking up, take a five-minute "sunbath" and daydream! Fully charged🔋
Student D: Clear space, lighten the load
She sold all the items she no longer needed at home as second-hand goods, and as a result, not only did she make some money, but she also felt much more relaxed. "The room is empty, lying on the floor, no need to clean, old clothes thrown away, and my heart is instead filled with anticipation and motivation for a better life."
Student C: Self Time
After getting off work and returning home, I will put my phone far away, focus on enjoying my bath time, watch my favorite TV shows, and try not to look at messages on my phone. After 9 o'clock, I will completely lie down, put aside all contacts and conversations, and leave some alone time for myself.
Summer: Enhancing energy through the senses
I am also trying to nurture my vitality through the five senses. Eyes, nose, ears, tongue, and touch.
Eyes: I will make myself look at some green plants or gaze into the distance to relieve visual fatigue.
Nose: Light your favorite incense, open the window 🪟 especially the smell of damp soil after it has just rained, super relaxing.
Ears: Play some meditation music and let it serve as the background sound in your daily life to actively create an atmosphere.
Tongue: Run a cup of 🥃 warm tea, red dates, roses, jasmine.
Touch: Lie down on the yoga mat, feel each point of contact between your body and the ground, and let yourself merge with the ground.
The first thing to do every morning after getting up is to take a cold shower, then apply fragrant moisturizer. The scent that lingers on you from morning till night is truly healing❤️🩹.
Conclusion "bye"
Here is another one of my aha moments ❤️:
“Imagine the brain as a huge subway system. Trains are sent to various places, and people get on and off at different stations. They might be going to work, school, or to meet friends. Those stations are brain cells, the trains are signals, and the people are the messages that need to be conveyed.”
Reading📖, fitness🏋️, running🏃, writing✍️, these activities are like hiring thousands of subway workers, who not only repair broken parts but also lay new tracks, invent better trains, and build necessary new stations—because a city is constantly changing. Everything will run better, and residents can work, study, and entertain themselves.
Just like that, you have become a better version of yourself.
Wishing Zhou An
Summer
